Developing & Recruiting an IS Function


Position: Chief Information Officer
The Process:
  • A $1B national financial services organization retained M. Wood Company when it was in the process of a divestiture. The surviving organization was left without an IS function.

  • As part of M. Wood's consultative approach, we partnered with the COO to address several strategic issues prior to approaching the CIO search:
    Short term - Review alternatives and recommend how the Company could keep their current systems running. Evaluate outsourcing activities and who may be viable vendors. Determine the feasibility of the acquiring company maintaining the systems in the interim. If so, how long? And terms of the agreement?
    Long term - The corporate headquarters was moving from the southeast to a major east coast city. Where should the new IS organization reside - in the headquarters' city or a neighboring suburban location? What is the skill set required for this CIO position? What type of IS organization is required to address and support the business needs?
  • From the substantial analysis conducted before the CIO search began, M. Wood Company was able to provide the following recommendations:
    • Redefine the CIO position description to support the needs of the organization - combination of strategic and general management skills with strong hands-on, technical understanding.
    • Provide a plan of action to decentralize the IS organization and suggested suburban communities that would provide an employee population that could support the business needs.
    • Outsource the non-valued added utilities (i.e. help desk, data center, etc.).
    • Suggested the creation of a development team to coordinate corporate planning activities with the functional positions in the IS organization (i.e. business analysts).

  • M. Wood Company worked with the senior management team to help resolve many IS business issues that were associated with the business divestiture. By identifying and addressing the Company's short and long term issues, M. Wood completed the groundwork for the new the CIO to plan and implement the organizational development strategy. Recruiting a CIO with the right skills for this position also would attract the right team members to get the new IS organization up and running.


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